Painting bathroom tiles: what lasts and what peels

Painting bathroom tiles sounds like a bad idea, and in the wrong place it is. In the right place, with the right paint and careful preparation, it can change a dated bathroom in a weekend. We painted the tiles in two reader bathrooms and checked them again after eighteen months.

Where it works, and where it does not

Painted tiles last well on walls that get splashed but are not soaked: behind a basin, around a bath, on the walls of a cloakroom. They do not last inside a shower, where water hits them every day, or on floors, where feet and chairs wear them away.

Preparation is everything

1. Clean. Wash the tiles with sugar soap to remove all grease and soap residue.
2. Sand. Lightly sand the glaze with fine sandpaper so the primer can grip.
3. Prime. Use a primer made for tiles or glossy surfaces. Ordinary primer will peel.
4. Paint. Two thin coats of tile paint, with a foam roller for the tiles and a small brush for the grout lines.
5. Wait. Most tile paints need several days to cure fully before they get wet.

Painting tiles is ninety percent cleaning and sanding, and ten percent painting.

Ade Okoro

Colours

Soft, light colours hide small imperfections best. Very dark colours show every brush mark and every scratch.

• #E7E3DA Shell — the wall tiles
• #A9BFC0 Sea glass — one accent wall
• #FFFFFF Brilliant white — the grout, painted with a fine brush

Eighteen months later

In the first bathroom, behind a basin, the paint still looks new. In the second, around a bath, it has one small chip where a shampoo bottle fell, easily touched up. Both owners say they would do it again, as a way to buy time before a full renovation.

The cost

The whole job cost under £100 for each bathroom: sugar soap, sandpaper, primer, paint and a roller. Compare that with £1,500 or more to retile.